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If you’re a customer of one of a few bold utilities, your building could become part of the latest trend in flexible incentives.

Pay-for-Performance programs are an emerging utility incentive model. Conceived here in Seattle, Pay-For-Performance programs give owners and contractors more flexibility, along with a financial upside, thanks to better data about buildings.

The way energy efficiency incentive programs work almost everywhere in the United States, customers get the incentive payments up front, whether or not any energy is actually saved by the energy efficiency measures the utility paid for.

During the Seattle pilot, Stan Price was the executive director of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council, which advocated for Pay-for-Performance. He believes P4P is the best next move for utility-incentivized energy efficiency in the commercial building sector.

“THE DEEMED SAVINGS method worked for 30 years of energy efficiency incentives. But now we have more data,” says Mr. Price. “We know more about how buildings work.”

That doesn’t mean P4P programs are “measure blind.” Yes, spreading the risk means utilities can be more agnostic about how energy is saved, but the longer version of this article describes why Seattle City Light and PSE both require capital expenditures in the measure mix.

HOW MUCH ENERGY savings are we talking about? Seattle City Light hopes to see 40 percent energy savings over the life of a P4P program based on results from the pilot program.

Stan Price has high expectations not only for the savings, but for the positive changes that Pay-for-Performance can bring to utility-run energy efficiency programs.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.